1. What does Friedman mean when he makes the following
claims, “Doha and Dalian show what happens when flat meets crowded”?And, “Remember: the metric to watch is
not the total number of people on the planet—it’s the total number of
‘Americans’ on the planet”?

Recall from the first question set, “Flat” means the
global increase of middle class, high consuming population around the world.
“Crowded” refers to the increase in Earth’s human population. Friedman has
witnessed rapid growth, population and economic, in these two cities in the
recent past.In Doha and Dalian
the population of humans who can consume energy and emit carbon dioxide at US
rates has grown rapidly.That
worries Friedman because he does not believe Earth can support 2-3 billion
people living the “American lifestyle”.

2. What is one “Americum”?350 million people who live the American lifestyle and
suffer from affluenza. Howmany exist on Earth currently? Between
4 and 5. How many are projected to be on
Earth in 2030? 8 or 9. So what? The
growth of “Americums” is another way to conceptualize Friedman’s “flat”
metaphor.The global growth of
high consuming middle class populations will have dramatic consequences on
resource use and pollution production.The first two Americums, the US and Europe, grew on what Friedman calls
the “cheap fossil-fuel model”.That model will not be sustainable for the next 4 or 5 Americums.

3. Pages 89-92 demonstrate why France cannot afford a
35-hour work week and how China has become the main player in what Friedman
calls “consumption volcano”.

4. How were communism and socialism effective at limiting
the growth of Americums?

Friedman demonstrates how communism in the former Soviet
Union and China and socialism in India caused economic growth to be extremely
slow. The planned economies offered people only limited consumer goods and
barely enough wealth to purchase the meager supply.Since the collapse of communism and the end of India’s
experiment with socialism, rapid economic growth has occurred and, with that,
peoples’ aspirations and abilities to consume and pollute resources at much
higher levels.

5. Note how China’s demand for iron in 2004 resulted in “the
Great Drain Robbery”.Poor
economies don’t exert much of a global demand for resources like scrap metal or
metallic ores.Economies in which
are growing rapidly and steadily creating Americums exert profound influence on
global resources.

6. Be sure that you understand Diamond’s “relative per
capita consumption rate”.

What happens to world consumption rates when a person
emigrates from a country with a low relative per capita consumption rate to the
“First World”?Why?World consumption rates will
increase because that person’s “relative per capita consumption rate” will
eventually increase to First World levels.Tens of millions of people are trying to make this
move.Who can blame them?

How does our “relative per capita consumption rate” compare
with China’s?

Ours are 11 times higher than China’s.

What will happen to demand for resources like oil and metal
if China’s “relative per capita consumption rate” reaches the same level as
ours? Demand for oil and metals will roughly double.Think about how that will influence
prices.

7. How might recent rapid increases in rates of per capita
consumption rate in OPEC countries influence the global supply of petroleum?

OPEC countries might export less of their petroleum so
that they can meet domestic demands. This would cause global supplies to
decrease and prices to increase.

8. Which “commons” fueled previous “economic spurts”?

North Atlantic Cod fueled Northern Europe’s shift to
capitalism in the 17th century.

North America’s pine forests were exploited to build the
ships.

Grain production in the American Midwest, tea in India,
African slaves, partially fueled the Industrial Revolution of 18th
and 19th centuries.

The world’s fisheries fueld Japan’s post WWII rebound.

Currently China has expanded its economic interests in almost
every corner of the globe to acquire resources necessary to sustain it economic
growth and consumption.

9. So, how does Friedman propose that we change the model of
economic growth?What resources
will be required?

Friedman focuses on knowledge as the resource that will
fuel a new model of economic growth.He stresses that our knowledge must be focused on “innovation around
sustainable energy and resource productivity”.One example he offers is “cradle to cradle” resource
use.This involves the planning of
production for “continuous recovery”, which takes knowledge, in which each
material will be able to be completely re-used after the original product is
discarded.

10. Why did Friedman’s visit to the “green” Wal-Mart depress
him? It depressed him because that Wal-Mart is 30 miles outside of
Dallas.Those 30 miles are filled
with sprawl that is common along US interstates.He saw the sprawl and the automobile traffic as resource
consumption that far outweighs the energy savings of the new Wal-Mart.

11. Pages 105-107 demonstrate how exceedingly consumptive
our lifestyle is.In pages 107-109
Friedman re-states his case that Earth can’t afford many more Americums and
then challenges the US to create the model that will lead to a new model of economic
growth that does not depend on exploitation of finite natural resources and
such high rates of pollution.